Death at Cirque du Soleil

Performer dies after 50-foot fall

Saturday a performer was killed during a Cirque du Soleil performance in Las Vegas after a 50-foot fall, according to the Las Vegas Sun on Sunday.

The 31-year-old performer and mother of two, Sandy Guyard-Guillot, had spent 22 years practicing acrobatics before the plunge to her death. She was pronounced dead at 11:43 p.m. Saturday at University Medical Center.

The tragedy occurred during the final battle scene of the show, when she was being lifted up the side of the stage. The wire reportedly snapped and she fell the rest of the way down into a pit not visible by the audience.

Audience member Dan Mosqueda commented on the awful event to the paper.

Guyard-Guillot “was being hoisted up the side of the stage and then just plummeted down,” Mosqueda said. “Initially, a lot of people in the audience thought it was part of the choreographed fight. But you could hear screaming, then groaning, and we could hear a female artist crying from the stage.”

His wife, Annie Mosqueda, tweeted shortly after the incident.

“Wire snapped. Performer on far stage left side of stage. He/she fell fast & awkwardly at LEAST 50 feet into pit,” she wrote.

The founder of Cirque du Soleil was horrified about the death. He said that there hasn’t been any deaths in the 30 years the shows have been performing.

“I am heartbroken. I wish to extend my sincerest sympathies to the family. We are all completely devastated with this news. Sassoon was an artist with the original cast of Kà since 2006 and has been an integral part of our Cirque du Soleil tight family. We are reminded, with great humility and respect, how extraordinary our artists are each and every night. Our focus now is to support each other as a family,” Laliberte told the Sun.

While Cirque du Soleil will be surrounding the grieving family, we as an audience to the normally spectacular show should also have the company and Guyard-Guillot’s family and friends in our thoughts with the hope that everything will work out for the best.